EU's Mogherini Pays First Visit to Kosovo

The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Frederica Mogherini, will be visiting Kosovo for the first time since taking office in November on Thursday, when she plans to meet Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and opposition and minority party representatives.

Mogherini will be traveling with Fernando Gentilini, Director for the Western Balkans and Turkey, Luis Felipe Fernandez de la Pena, Managing Director for Europe and Central Asia at the European External Action Service, and Anna-Maria Boura, the Senior Advisor in the Pristina-Belgrade Dialogue.

The High Representative will be meeting Prime Minister Mustafa for the first time in Kosovo since she took on the role of facilitator in the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue from Britain's Catherine Ashton.

She will also be meeting the four Kosovo Serb ministers in government and mayors of the Serb-majority municipalities. 

Mogherini is expected to discuss key issues facing Kosovo, such as the formation of the Association of Serb Municipalities, a pillar of the Brussels Agreement signed between Kosovo and Serbia, and the upcoming formation of the EU-funded special court. 

The special court will deal with crimes attributed to the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, the armed formation that took on Serbian forces in the 1990s in a struggle that led to Kosovo's independence.

She also comes two days before the expected release of a European commission report on the alleged abuses committed by the EU rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, a investigation she ordered after members of the EULEX mission were accused of corruption.

After Kosovo, Mogherini is expected to go to Serbia on Friday.